Army tech on display at AUSA 2012

The Army’s largest conference of the year kicks off Monday morning at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. with Army Secretary John McHugh’s keynote speech.

Hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, it’s a great chance to learn about the Army’s ever-changing innovation strategy. Last year, service leaders placed a focus on the their Science & Technology priorities set. This year, expect to hear plenty about the Army Network and Capability Set 13.

The Army has harped for years about updating it’s Network. It still sits as the service’s top priority. In October, it took a major step forward in getting that Network into soldiers’ hands in Afghanistan.

The Army is fielding the first sets of Capability Set 13, the service’s advanced battlefield communications system, in October to the 10th Mountain Division who will deploy with it next year. The systems includes the Army’s latest smartphones, advanced satellites and tricked out MRAPs the service has been boasting about.

Plenty more of the Army’s latest technical gizmos will be on display from the most advanced surveillance cameras to the latest sniper scopes to the lightweight UAVs. Military.com’s crack team of reporters will be on scene to keep you updated on all the conference’s news.

If there are any points of interest or questions you’d like us to ask, please write those suggestions in the comments box. We’ll be constantly monitoring it. Also, follow @DefenseTech on Twitter all week long for live updates.